Seeking disability from Social Security? Read this article...!

I am tempted to quote most of the article (from today's New York Times)... here are just a few snippets:

"Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Two-thirds of those who appeal an initial rejection eventually win their cases." (bolded by me)

"But in the meantime, more and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing...

Of the roughly 2.5 million disability applicants each year now, about two-thirds are turned down initially by state agencies, which make decisions with federal oversight based on paper records but no face-to-face interview. Most of those who are refused give up at that point or after a failed request for local reconsideration.

But of the more than 575,000 who go on to file appeals — putting them in the vast line for a hearing before a special federal judge — two-thirds eventually win a reversal."

Background customization

I don't have any family either. Parents and grandparents gone when I was a child. I wouldn't kill myself over that though. I had to learn to accept that they were gone and not coming back. I was put here for a purpose. That is what God has revealed to me. If you kill yourself, you do not get the chance to help someone who might need you. We all serve a purpose and are connected in some way somehow. It is what you do with your energy source that matters most. Are you light or dark? You can change that. I oftened lived in darkness and then I learned that I am an energy source that can radiate light to others. I had to rid myself of the negative thoughts and energy around me. Once I did that, I became free. We are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. We are co-creators from God.

God put disability there so you can help yourself. You worked for that so don't think it doesn't belong to you. If you have worked, all that is required is 40 credits to collect disability. Get your disability so that God can help you and restore you. It will help. And you can work part time after you get the disability. Don't let your pride and ego stand in the way of getting the help you need! Peace and may God bless you!

get more mental help. There are more people out there that would love to get that money like myself. I have a chest tumor and need a thorocotomy, my lungs are so weak I cannot be operated on. So there goes both of my jobs, no income, been denied twice for disability.Be thankful your alive and have some sort of income,I also suffer from depression and migrains, I try to deal with my problems the best that I can, I've learned no matter how bad you think things are somewhere somebody is worse off than you. Be more positive and get some help from a mental health center.Good luck to you and may god bless.

I am on SSDI for something also, I have debilitating migraines they are classified in many neurology books as suicidal migraines. It is very painful and doctors do very little but at least I am on ssdi and I guess thats a positive. After reading how many people have to hire a lawyer and an appeal to get on it, it makes me feel a little comfortable knowing I can at least help my son grow up.

Like you I tend to consider suicide a lot. There are a great portion of farmers in India who are killing themselves because they farm all day but can't afford to eat, or make mortgage payments and there is a world food shortage that they are not discussing in our Senate and neither of the Presidential candidates will discuss it either.

As for a sure fire way to kill yourself, I have thought about it many times and when I am ready and my son is married and my husband and I are too sick to make it we will most likely take rat poison and niacin as I read online it is effective. More common than that people seek friendship. I would be your friend you can talk to me at any time. post your email on my page and I will talk to you almost every day. I find something good about everyone. I am a bitch but I still love anyone who is capable of love its the only way. I don't recommend you kill yourself because you can't afford to live a life of comfort. You have a lot to offer and you are depressed.

Please don't think about it they have the 1800-999-9999 line for people who are suicidal, I've been there I know. You can get out of this by networking you can talk to people your emotions can't run your life. I've lived an entire year on noodles and ketchup my son ate at a friends or families house we were embarrassed but shit happens you've got to keep fighting for the people who need you that you haven't met yet.

I don't have a mother, father or any grandparents I wish I had family. I would like to have you in my life are you in Mass I would even snail mail you.

I am 60 yr old. I am on 100% SSDI for severe chronic depression since 2001. I have tried every drug, voc rehab, to get reemployed. I hate welfare. I don't kiss ass well. I get $783 a month. It takes $2500 a month to live the way I want to and not be depressed. Does anyone have a sure fire way to kill yourself, painlessly, simple, not using a gun? Keep it short. No jokes. I really need help. Otherwise I will have to quit eating for a month to buy a gun. That is not painless, not eating.

Why not file for your disability? This is money that is not being 'given' to you but rather monies that you have paid into. It's your money,shouldn't you be able to draw some of it when you need it.

You can draw it for a while, then stop getting it when you have return to 'full speed' in your recovery. You can also work some while receiving it, check it out with social security office to see how much you can earn.

I can relate to this article so much. I am living proof of what the system can do and not do. As of right now, I am awaiting yet another notice from Social Security for my Disability filing. I first filed in 2003 was denied, appealed and went before an Admin Law Judge and was denied again. I appealed this to the Fed Appeals council and was granted another hearing with the Admin Law Judge........So again I am waiting. I dare not expect as my expectations have caused me a great deal of grief in the past.

My parents built an apt on their home for me and my youngest son with all their nest egg money. We have lived here for 3 years now. My only help is from a monthly child support check of 375 for which I am so thankful and I do get food stamps of about 200. My medicine and doctors are paid for by Medicaid. All this help from the State is such a blessing.

However, if it were not for my family taking me in how would I have made it? When you live with medical problems and chronic pain it almost always leads to depression which was already in place before this part of my life...and I am no exception. My parents are now getting too old to help support me.

My Step dad is the bread winner and still works when he gets jobs. He is now 75. His work is hit and miss, so it is always feast or famine around here. Currenty he has had no work for several months and we are behind on the mortgage by 3 months plus all other bills are doubled or tripled. How do people manage?? My situation is a piece of cake compared to others on this page.

I pray for God's will in my life but scared to death to be specific. I will pray for all of those on this page who need so much than I. I was taught not to pray for myself unless it would help another and in my case the help would be a blessing to my parent and my child.

I'm glad I found this site. I think we all should send this link to every elected official in our respective States.

Since finding this page I decided to share all the information on help I have found in the past. These sites are listed on my "homepage" on this site. If just one person can pull through by using this information it would be well worth it. It is all I have to give at the moment.

It is genocide. Maybe not the way the news has reported it ( in other countries, but it is genocide nonetheless.

genocide - the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

"After the Americans destroyed our village and killed many of us, we also lost our houses and have nothing to eat. However, we would have endured these miseries and even accepted them, if the Americans had not sentenced us all to death. When I saw my deformed grandson, I realized that my hopes of the future have vanished for good, different from the hopelessness of the Russian barbarism, even though at that time I lost my older son Shafiqullah. This time, however, I know we are part of the invisible genocide brought on us by America, a silence death from which I know we will not escape." (Jooma Khan of Laghman province, March 2003)

"I realized this slow, yet certain death, when I saw blood in my urine and developed severe pain in my kidneys along with breathing problems I never had before. Many of my family members started to complain from confusion and the pregnant women miscarried their babies while others gave birth to disabled infants" (Akbar Khan from Paktika province, February 2003)

Yet, how many people do you know suffer from the same problems here in the US? How many people here suffer with no medical help? No insurance? No money? We are supposed to be the richest, most advanced country in the world, yet people die here every day of the most preventable disease - POVERTY.

"we would have endured these miseries and even accepted them"

How much have we learned to accept? The loss of privacy, the lack of security and protection from "terrorists" -yet the worst terrorism we find is from our own government. We are what to do, when and how to do everything, and if we can't we are somehwo to blame. No matter how much money we make it is still not enough because our homes are foreclosed upon due to shady corporations or "eminent domain".

Minimum wage is a joke - tell me who the hell can live on that? Even if you make a decent wage 1/2 is taken in taxes. And of course you cannot apply for services through any agency because they use your gross wage not your net income - which are 2 completely different amounts.

You buy into long or short term disability in case you get hurt, but when you need it, you are denied - due to a technicality. How many people actually get disability or compensation with their first application? Even if they do, it's not enough to live on. Again you can;t get social services because you have an income.

B ut it is crunch time for the politicians and they will promise anything you want to hear - provided you support their campaign. Not one of them will promise medical insurance for everyone, or put an end to this freaking war that we should not be in anyway. Not one will promise a livable wage. But they will take anything they can get their hands on - and like spoiled children, they will take without asking.

Yes, I am angry. I am angry that we have allowed this to happen. I am angry THEY think they can get away with stealing and crushing the dreams of the american public, leaving us with nothing but a poverty stricken generation of disabled people with no where to turn. I am angry that anyone who dares to confront the powers that be, or tries to make a difference, is silenced.

I was watching the news the other day. The people in New Orleans were trying to enter the town meeting. The discussion which was supposed to be open to the public as about the demolition of low income housing. When the public tried to enter the meeting they were disbursed with chemical spray. Others already inside, were removed when they tried to object to the proceedings.

I am some kind of example of fool. I paid for my basic foolishness by way of social securtity taxes. I have been denied Three times plus appeals all the while being disabled and thinking I would eventually get my benifits. I could laugh but it isn't funny. Our government is run by CRIMINALS of the worst sort.

What will it take for some reform ? People who are hurting struggle for 2-3 years to get their disability ,and then recieve below poverty checks ?!!

The way our country treats it's elderly , single mothers , disabled and poor is atrocious. How many millions of dollars have we been helping other countries with while turning a blind eye to our own people ?

The governmental community lives lavishly , while in the next block of Washington there is one of the worst slums of all big cities. We practice dumping homeless people when they are discharged from hospitals. We let people die while waiting for assistance.

The Land of the Free ? The United States has a worse cast system than any other country ever had.

Who is on the bottom ? The disabled , the elderly , the poor and the homeless . We know who thinks they are at the top.

Our country hurts and kills more people daily through our unbelievable "system" than all the people who have lost their lives in Iraq.

It is time we start putting out our own fires and stop enabling the rest of the world.

soulight

P.S.

Thank you for highlighting the part that encourages those of us who are fighting for disability . Knowing that the percentage that eventually win is so high is quite encouraging !

Amazing, I have been living this miserable life now for 4 months only just now being denied my first time for disability. I am a Married but Seperated now due to all this, trying to support myself and 2 children waiting for the govt to allow me something that I have earned from working (2 jobs most of the time). I was diagnosed with ILD-RB, UCTD, and Maniac Depression almost 2 years ago. I was discharged from my job that I had never had a bad review, write up or anything except exceptional reviews with extremely high pay increases and position change with nothing but raves about my work abilities, all except the abscences for medical appts including open lung biospy and 1 week out of state outpatient diagnostic hospitalization. Since then I have not been able to keep a job with everything going on. My good highlight was I met up with my high school sweetheart and was married 01/19/07 and now to be seperated and headed for divorce due to the maniac depression with anxiety getting over bearing in my life. Anyways back to the article - my children and I have been looking for a place to live, (without being involved in a homeless shelter) on the income of $403. Which is what I receive from my local SRS office, but the keep my child support of $168. So due to my illnesses I have been forced to life with family, survive on $359, however, to keep receiving this income which I am greatful for, that I most attempt to get a job and go to whatever classes, testing, and appts to obtain employment. HEEELLLLOOO its like SRS isn't listening if I go back to work then I lose my case, Get doctor notes they say, okay well, now I have medical card guess what my doctors don't accept it so now I have to switch to all new doctors and go thru what they think could help for my diseases that the other doctors haven't tried yet. Blah, Blah, Blah, so now I have to play govt against govt with me in the middle more to add to the depression and anxiety like I didn't already have enough to deal with. By the way my children are 17, 14, and 4 (my 14 lives with his dad in different state because of my illnesses ((and his)). Thank you for this site and info.